Because it takes time to convert analog audio to digital, upload to server, download to client, and convert back to analog. Plus if you don't buffer it about 30 seconds, you will get a lot of skips and jumps.

Well you never can completely eliminate the delay - it's just physically impossible. It can be done with special streaming software, but it's much more intensive. Plus again it would require every listener to have perfect, uninterrupted bandwidth. Not many of those ISPs exist.

Isn't the delay also considered beneficial because it would mess up the timing of someone doing criminal activity? The theory is that realtime following of police activity would give a criminal an advantage....

Well you never can completely eliminate the delay - it's just physically impossible. It can be done with special streaming software, but it's much more intensive. Plus again it would require every listener to have perfect, uninterrupted bandwidth. Not many of those ISPs exist.

Ok thank you for all the information, I just wanted to reduce the delays a little bit.